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Fly Through the Remodeled Westfield Century City

The Westfield Century City may be years away from completing its highly anticipated renovation, but you can already tour the $800 million transformation thanks to a fly-through video posted to the Westfield Corporation’s website. The long delayed expansion project will add over 420,000 square feet of premium retail space to the shopping center, increasing the mall’s total floor area to 1.2 million square feet. This expansion will make room for over 220 new stores and restaurants, to be situated in newly constructed space near the intersection of Santa Monica Boulevard and Avenue of the Stars.

Operator Announced for Case Hotel

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the boutique hotel chain Proper will soon be announced as the operator of the historic Case Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles. The 90-year-old building, located at 1106 South Broadway, is slated to contain 148 guest rooms, a basement bar and new ground-floor restaurant withs sidewalk dining. Due to 13-story tower’s past uses as home to the Commercial Club of Southern California and the YWCA, the project will also offer unique amenities including an indoor swimming pool and a basketball court.

Details Revealed for 1020 Figueroa Street

An upcoming presentation to the Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council’s Planning and Land Use Committee has revealed new information about 1020 South Figueroa Street, a high-rise complex planned by the Shenzen Hazens Real Estate Group. The project site, an approximately 2.6-acre property adjacent to the LA Live complex, is currently developed with a combination of surface parking the Luxe City Center Hotel. Initial plans for the property call for a two-phase development which would create 650 residential units, 250 hotel rooms and 80,000 square feet of commercial space within a trio of high-rise towers.

Historic Broadway Building Going Residential

After turning over a new architectural leaf with his upcoming Broadway Palace development, it appears that Geoff Palmer is now jumping into the adaptive reuse game. A document from the Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council has revealed that the Beverly Hills-based developer intends to convert the original headquarters of the Southern California Gas Company into a mixed-use complex featuring live-work lofts and pedestrian-oriented commercial space. The seven-story structure, located at 950 South Broadway, would include 30 residential units, a rooftop amenity deck, and approximately 7,500 square feet of commercial floor area split between its basement and ground levels.

LA Streetcar Project Moves to Next Phase

The proposed Downtown LA Streetcar officially moved to its next phase this morning, when the Los Angeles City Council’s Transportation Committee voted 5-0 to allow Los Angeles Streetcar, Inc. (LASI) to contract out the preliminary engineering work for the project. Meeting attendees expressed overwhelming support with the project, including several positive public comments. A recent estimate from planning and engineering firm AECOM raised eyebrows when it estimated the total cost of the proposed streetcar at $281.6 million - a far greater total than the $125 million figure presented to voters in 2012.

Playa Vista Office Building to Receive Upgrades

With demand increasing for Westside office space, real estate investment trust Hudson Pacific Properties (HPP) has begun renovating a 1980s building in Playa Vista to make it more appealing to tenants in the creative and entertainment industries. The vacant six-story structure, located at 12655 Jefferson Boulevard, was purchased by HPP last October for $38 million. Planned renovations would expand the building’s leasable footprint to 96,000 square feet, following the conversion of an internal stairwell and a portion of its underground parking garage to office space.

New Hotels Announced for Hollywood

Commune Hotels & Resorts, a San Franciso-based lifestyle hotel management company, has announced the upcoming construction of two new hotels in Hollywood as part of its continued national expansion. A half-acre property at 1523 Wilcox Avenue will birth the Thompson Hollywood, a 10-story structure featuring 200 guest rooms with views of the Hollywood sign and Downtown Los Angeles. Amenities in the mid-rise tower, designed by the New York-based Rockwell Group, would include multiple food and beverage venues.

New Convention Center Expansion Renderings

What a way to cap a big week of news for Downtown Los Angeles. On Tuesday, the City of Los Angeles announced that the team of Populous and HMC Architects had been selected to design the $350 million expansion of the Los Angeles Convention Center, beating out other proposals from teams lead by Gensler and AC Martin. Now, several new renderings have been released for the Populous-HMC proposal on Facebook and Twitter by Mayor Garceitti’s office.

Slender Hotel Tower Headed to Historic Core

Earlier this year, residents of Downtown Los Angeles began thinking “development,” when Mai’s Mexican Restaurant unexpectedly closed its doors. Those suspicions have now been proven correct. According to a case filing from the Los Angeles Department of City Planning, a new hotel tower is planned for the slender .21-acre property at 631-635 South Spring Street. The project would consist of a 28-story building, featuring 176 guest rooms, approximately 1,600 square feet of ground-level commercial space, and restaurants on its second, third and fourth floors.

More Multi-Family Planned in Koreatown

A tipster in Koreatown has sent word that a new multi-family residential complex is in the works for three parcels at the intersection of 5th Street and Kenmore Avenue. According to a notice of public hearing posted last week at 443-453 South Kenmore Avenue, a trio of low-rise apartment buildings may soon be felled for a larger development. The approximately .61-acre site is owned by Canfield Development, a Los Angeles-based real estate firm which specializes in infill projects.